When I was in economics and finance class today, I got to thinking. Sites like MacRumors.com and ThinkSecret.com are bad for Apple. For those who don’t know, these sites post articles, largely based on rumors, that predict when new products are coming out. For example, they may have industry “insiders” that spill the beans on when a new update to the Macbook Pro line is coming out.
However, these sites have a negative impact on Apple. For one, an unrealistic expectation of what product upgrades are coming out is created. Instead of being happy with the brand new, aluminum, multi-colored iPod Nano, they are upset that the “video iPod” or the “iPhone” hasn’t been released. Apple never claimed that they would release either, but customers, based on what they read on these websites, are upset.
The second negative impact is that MacRumors is often very close to the money when it comes to predicting line upgrades (when the current Macs will be updated). The problem with this is that readers will avoid making a normal purchase of a current Mac because they “know” a new version is coming out. Obviously, this has to have a negative impact on Mac sales.
Anyway, with all this being said, I will still be a MacRumors patron, but I do think that some interesting points could be raised about these sites from an economical standpoint.
